Latest news with #JustMomsSTL
Business Journals
17-07-2025
- Health
- Business Journals
Direct link found between Coldwater Creek and cancer rates, Harvard researchers say
A newly released study by a team of researchers at Harvard University appears to show a direct correlation between radioactive material in Coldwater Creek and increased cancer rates. After years of fighting for answers as to how Coldwater Creek impacted the lives of the people around her Just Moms STL co-founder Dawn Chapman admits it's bittersweet news. 'We need to be able to look each other in the St. Louis region and say there are no more exposures happening,' Chapman said. 'I don't think we can say that today.' GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Researchers studied more than 300,000 baby teeth collected for the St. Louis Institute-Later Life Health study between 1959 and 1970. 'It gives us little fossil record as to what they were exposed to back in those early days,' said Marc Weisskopf, professor of environmental epidemiology and physiology at Harvard's School of Public Health. Weisskopf and his research team were able to determine that while roughly 24% of people in the St. Louis region will develop cancer the rates near Coldwater Creek are much higher. 'People really close to the creek, within a kilometer, were about 40% more likely to have cancer at any sort,' Weisskopf said. 'If you focus on those that are considered more radiosensitive they were about 85% more likely to have cancer.' Weisskopf said he's already applying for grant funding for a second, more intensive study of the contamination in Coldwater Creek. 'We can actually use those teeth and measure the remnants of that long-ago radiation that were in the teeth, and get much more precise about this and say not just, 'Did you happen to live close to the teeth?' but, 'What level of radiation is in your tooth, and what is your risk of cancer later on,' said Weisskopf. Chapman said the study is a call to action for more extensive testing and cleanup to be done in the Coldwater Creek area. "We need to get out there and clean Coldwater Creek up in two to five years,' Chapman said. 'No more of this slow-paced business. Now that we have RECA it's time to stop the exposures, so that we don't need it ongoing." Just last week, Congress expanded the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to people in north St. Louis County. If you live near Coldwater Creek, there is a town hall next Thursday, July 24, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the James Eagen Gymnasium in Florissant to discuss the help available. Go here for KSDK's full report. The St. Louis Business Journal contributed to this report.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
CBS News renews attention to nuclear waste fallout at Coldwater Creek
ST. LOUIS – A new two-part series from 'CBS Evening News' has brought renewed attention to decades-long concerns of nuclear waste contamination at Coldwater Creek and its devastating impact on St. Louis-area families. The contamination stems from uranium production during the Manhattan Project, a World War II-era effort that occurred in the St. Louis region. When leftover nuclear waste was later disposed, it found way into Coldwater Creek, a 19-mile tributary of the Missouri River that runs through neighborhoods, schools, and parks. Over the last few years, national reports have surfaced suggesting that the federal government downplayed and failed to fully investigate the risks of nuclear waste contamination that stemmed from the Manhattan Project. In its first of two reports, CBS Evening News focused on the story of Linda Morice, a north St. Louis County resident whose family was severely affected by cancer. Police respond to South County Mall after man displays gun Morice's family moved to St. Louis in 1957, unaware of dangers lurking in their backyard. Over the years, Morice lost her mother, father and brother to cancer, all believed to be tied to long-term exposure to nuclear waste at Coldwater Creek. 'It was a slow, insidious process,' Morice told CBS. 'All that time, all those fun things were happening, but that whole time we, and the rest of the community were being exposed to some pretty dangerous stuff.' Urologic oncologist Dr. Gautum Agarwal told CBS he has seen an unusually high number of aggressive cancers in people who grew up near the creek, something he has been tracking closely in medical reports. 'I was seeing patients who are young, who had developed pretty significant cancers from areas that there's been some contamination with nuclear waste,' said Agrawal. Morice also recalled a chilling comment from her physician's uncle, who once warned, 'Everyone on this street has a tumor.' The waste wasn't limited to one site. CBS reports that it spread across 82 different spots in St. Louis County, including places where children played and families lived unaware of risks. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now This isn't the only time nuclear waste around St. Louis has caught national attention either. In recent years, environmental investigation consultants have pointed out radioactive contamination at Jana Elementary School in north St. Louis County. There are also prolonged concerns about the West Lake landfill in Bridgeton and a former uranium plant site in Weldon Spring. Efforts to secure compensation for victims of radioactive contamination through U.S. Congress have gained some momentum in the past, including a push from a local advocacy group Just Moms STL, but legislation on the matter has not passed as of April 2025. Just Moms STL, a vocal forced behind the push for accountability, shared the CBS story to their social media pages with the caption: 'This is why we need RECA!' Missouri U.S. Josh Hawley has been a major proponent of swift action at Coldwater Creek, repeatedly urging Congress to recognize St. Louis-area radioactive contamination victims and fund their care. According to previous Associated Press reports on cleanup of Coldwater Creek isn't expected to finish until 2038, though the Army Corps of Engineers believes the worst of the contamination has been removed. Part II of the two-part 'CBS Evening News' special on Coldwater Creek airs Wednesday evening. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
EPA to expedite West Lake landfill cleanup
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – The Environmental Protection Agency is looking to expedite the cleanup of nuclear waste left over from the Manhattan Project. Families impacted by the West Lake Landfill said they are thrilled to see the new timeline of the cleanup. 'This gives our community some hope. A lot of people really kind of lost that hope not seeing any action, always hearing delay, delay, delay,' Karen Nickel, co-founder of Just Moms STL, said. Nickel said last month's visit from new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin was the push the community needed. 'This was one of the most powerful, heartbreaking communities that he's had to listen to, and it is devastating,' she said. The timeline said the cleanup plan will be submitted in October. Dawn Chapman said the plan includes feedback from families impacted. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now 'They've taken a lot of the stuff that we've had to say into consideration and put it in there and that means a lot,' she said. 'So, the community will have had a very strong voice in the making of the plan and how they do this.' Another key piece of the plan is the consent decree, which said the EPA's goal is to reach the agreement with the party responsible. If they can't reach an agreement, the EPA can force them. 'Really, what that comes down to is EPA will come in, the work will start, and then they'll charge time three whatever the price tag is. So, that is a boot on the neck of the Department of Energy, who made this mess,' Chapman said. Senator Josh Hawley said he is working to get another tour soon with the Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 'Anytime that you can get an agency or a cabinet member to come in and look at your community and see the devastation and agree with the devastation, it is powerful for this community,' said Nickel. . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
